Book Two, Chapter 16 of Quaranteam
Chapter Sixteen - December 21, 2020
Los Angeles during the holidays is a strange place to be. Typically, everyone departs for the festive season, leaving the city mostly uninhabited. The city is rarely considered the birthplace of any of its residents. People have always moved there from somewhere else before settling. But this time around, travel wasn't an option and homes seemed less inviting. The streets remained as empty as usual, but for different reasons.
Andy and his team, Team Rook, didn't relish the idea of visiting Los Angeles but numerous meetings needed to be held - some with the studio adapting the first Druid Gunslinger book, others with individuals seeking "general meetings". The latter was what Andy was least enthusiastic about, so they planned to address these later in the day.
Their first destination was Working Title Films. Although they would have preferred Andy's presence in their London headquarters, they were prepared to meet at their Hollywood offices. They had a copy of the final shooting script that required Andy's approval before finalizing the shooting schedule. The plan was to shoot for 25 days at London's Pinewood Studios and 14 nights on location in San Francisco. Andy was only expected for the last week of London shooting, which would simultaneously allow for any potential London set reshoots if needed. This timeline was agreeable to all involved. Filming would commence in mid-March, well after their honeymoon ended.
After Working Title, they split into two groups: Sarah, Niko, Moira, Fiona, and Aisling for one set of meetings; Andy, Alexis, Melody, Piper, and Emily for a different set. Though Andy was not necessary for either set, Emily insisted on Andy's presence to share her regret over her decisions with Mali. Together, they met with her agents to consider potential new projects.
Andy had been to Creative Artists Agency before, but this was his first time inside. He was struck by the extreme deference displayed by everyone. They proposed 12 projects for his fiancée's consideration, hoping to lock her into two or three before the end of the following year.
Andy entered the room, witnessing a side of Emily he hadn't seen before - the savvy businesswoman. Having learned valuable lessons after Dagger Academy, Emily had placed equal importance on the financial aspect of any offer as well as the project itself. When they arrived, the agents tried pressuring Emily into working immediately, but she insisted on waiting until after her honeymoon in January. Should Emily start shooting any time later, it wouldn't interfere with her Neon Stonehenge commitments, already booked for May.
Emily listened as each pitch was presented. Sometimes, she provided feedback, other times, she rejected ideas outright. She consented to reconsider some proposals once details like directors or other cast members were confirmed. A couple of times, she was reminded about her "no nudity" clause, and she insisted that while many Dagger Academy fans had passed, being dubbed Dahlia Hairtrigger was an image she didn't want to shatter unless it was essential to the character or story.
On occasions, the agents glanced towards Andy, as if to inquire if he could "talk some sense" into Emily. Andy remained by Emily's side, emphasizing that she had not refused to do nudity but merely felt compelled to discern if any project merited stripteasing. If it was essential to the story, they needed to produce a project that justified it; otherwise, they needed to wait. Sarah had shared a similar stance with her own agents.
Emily concluded the gathering with the belief that she would commence filming for a supernatural television series on Netflix in May. The series, titled "Looky Loos," was inspired by a set of British secret agents who also possessed mental telepathy. The concept was derived from a comic distributed in 2000 AD, a British publication widely acknowledged for its lengthy run. Even though the scripts weren't solid yet, between one and two additional revisions might be enough to nail them down. But this was sufficient for it to be documented and progress towards generating more content. Emily would be spending three weeks in London for filming over a six-week period, with alternate weeks off, preventing her from enduring separation-caused discomfort from Andy's absence.
Despite this, the most significant hurdle remained the scheduling. During a bygone era in 2019, Andy was astonished to find out that Lesser Phil practiced polyamory, and not just that, but was paired with three individuals. Back then, polyamory was less prevalent, and therefore, Andy was perplexed by Lesser Phil's simultaneous romantic alliances. They didn't quarrel; they didn't resent Lesser Phil's time allocation, as long as each person understood the circumstances. It was their most extensive one-on-one dinner discussion ever, transpiring from 7 pm until they closed down the Applebee's, resulting in their expulsion at 2 am.
Lesser Phil shared a wealth of insight regarding conducting multiple relationships, with communication and scheduling being the two cornerstones of managing such a lifestyle. His living arrangement consisted of himself and five other individuals, all saving their daily routines on a shared Google Calendar. This allowed them to ensure that each partner enjoyed sufficient time with one another and prevented anyone from being left out. Emotions were simple to debate, but programs required a greater degree of strategy.
As they entered their current predicament, Andy recalled Lesser Phil's uncomplicated wisdom. He had started adapting the knowledge into usable strategies, and scheduling had been one of the initial resources he instructed Whitney to create for them. While Google Calendar could have sufficed, it didn't support the user number or the subgroups they required. His location had to be prioritized, and everybody's schedule had to be regulated to ensure that he could be contacted by one of his partners every seven days. He was not attempting to emphasize he was more vital than any of his partners; he only required to be reachable to any of his significant others and could not be devoid of their presence for an extended period.
After departing CAA, they journeyed to the Andaz, where they had booked the Penthouse Suite, yet would be awaiting a sequence of meetings.
An area inside the penthouse suite that mimicked a lounge contained a patio enabling a panoramic view of all of Los Angeles. Andy felt as if he should be dismissed shortly and ordered to complete his duties. He could not fathom how he'd ended up there, but he tried to suppress this sensation. This would happen more often.
"Who is the first meeting we have?" Andy enquired from Niko, who had been temporarily performing administrative tasks.
"Next Level Teleproductions Entertainment - they want to unveil an idea to all of us," she asserted.
Perplexed, Andy frowned. "Well, Whitney established the meeting, so presumably, these people command some influence. Thanks, Niko."
"The editor blended a beverage he typically arranges for you a little bit more robust with rum - so if you replenish your glass, be mindful of the rum level."
"You think I need a robust drink?"
"I searched for what else these folks have accomplished, and trust me, you'll want to be prepared," she added with a smirk. Just as a knock was heard on the main door of the suite. Lexi and Melody went over, doing a brief inspection to ensure no one was carrying weapons. Andy couldn't fathom why they would need to but had been told that Hollywood was a bizarre place where anything could happen, and the strangest story he'd heard about the area was likely only a tenth as odd as the actual occurrence.
"Mr. Rook!" a voice called out from the doorway. "Alan Garabon, from Next Level Teleproductions Entertainment! Thanks for agreeing to meet with us today. We don't want to take up too much of your time, but we wanted to present a few thoughts we've had since your appearance on 60 Minutes last month. We've brought some materials we'd like to show you, such as a mockup and possibly a preliminary concept trailer."
Alan appeared to be precisely what Andy had envisioned a Hollywood producer would look like: a pale man in his fifties wearing three distinct designer pieces of clothing that didn't match. It was uncertain if he had a toupee on his head or if a wild Shar Pei had taken its place; he also had exceptionally white teeth, causing Andy to wish he had his sunglasses on. Accompanying him were a muscular 20-something man in a button-up pink shirt with the top half unbuttoned and jean shorts, potentially revealing parts previously unseen, and a more business-like dark-haired woman in more formal attire. "This is my aide and partner, Albert, and our producer, Jean."
"I shall forgo introducing everyone present," Andy suggested, "if you wouldn't mind getting on with your pitch?"
"Absolutely fine," Jean responded, as she set her laptop down and pulled out a small projector, hooking it up. "We wish to explore tapping into your growing fame and use it as a springboard for a reality show where cameras follow you around continuously, recording your actions and speeches. We'd like to highlight the challenges you encounter in adjusting your behavior to satisfy the needs of so many women while remaining the leader of your household."
Andy glanced around at his companions sitting nearby as they contained their laughter, eager for the presentation to continue.
"We're considering a sort of 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' atmosphere, but with an underlying theme of dealing with the demands of two prominent, controversial Hollywood celebrities who, oddly, manage to persevere as a family despite their frequent arguments," the woman, Jean, continued. "Let's just play the trailer for you."
The projector produced an image on a wall, revealing the show idea's placeholder opening credits. The logo was "CASTLE ROOK," but, since there were no I's in the logo, they'd overemphasized the J-shaped piece, making it look strange. Then the logo vanished, and it transitioned to footage of Andy that appeared to be a combination of stuff from the 60 Minutes interview, panels at various genre events, and his acceptance of the Hugo. Following that, there was a split screen of Emily on the left and Sarah on the right, with both getting equal billing, using footage from press junkets, television interviews, and even a few snippets from the 60 Minutes segment. Next up was a split screen featuring Aisling on the left and Niko on the right, with footage from 60 Minutes. Then, another split displayed Fiona on the left and Moira on the right; Fiona's was mainly sourced from various news stories and on-air reporting before she moved in with Andy, and nearly all of Moira's footage seemed to be from the solitary story that Fiona had done, which was broadcast on CNN. Lastly, a wide-screen shot was shown, with a graphic reading, "Introducing Piper Rook..." accompanied by footage of Piper during training, the Olympics, and interviews after winning the championship. Finally, as it faded to black, a slogan appeared on the screen. "Love Requires Great Patience."
They displayed the projection for a moment, and Andy could sense each set of his partners' eyes turning towards him, as if waiting for him to start the conversation and establish its direction. He inhaled deeply, noticing the eagerness on the faces of those who had gathered to meet them, and knew this discussion wouldn't turn out how they'd predicted.
"Awesome, right?" Jean said. "You'll be famous overnight! You'll be bigger than the Kardashians! Your book sales will skyrocket, and among Emily, Sarah, and Piper, at least one of them will become the next Taylor Swift! You'll set the tone for conversations everywhere you go! You'll influence how the government thinks about the Quaranteam program! You'll be the face of the survivors in this terrible situation!"
There was something annoying about the way Jean stressed the last syllable in every sentence, rather than ending it normally.
"Excuse my directness, folks, but what are you all thinking?" Andy finally spoke up. "Firstly, let's address your premise - we don't fight often. We've had some disagreements, yes, but not to the level of promoting it as 'reality TV,' where producers fabricate conflicts to trigger viewer interest. But you don't seem like people who are interested in a deep conversation about merging multiple personalities into a unified family, and if I may be frank, I don't have any desire to be forced into fake disputes for entertainment purposes. You're proposing we allow cameras to record our lives, and instead of approaching us professionally, explaining how you'd handle things differently from typical reality shows, you seem to think we'll readily accept the idea of being on television, like a real-life version of the 'Housewives of Silicon Valley.' I don't speak for my partners, but personally, I can't see any value your pitch brings to our lives. Ladies, thoughts?"
"I have no interest in being Kim Kardashian," Sarah replied. "I don't need a beauty company. I don't want to break the internet with my ass or anything like that. I want to live my life and enjoy it, not have a camera invading my privacy to try and make me a household name. I'm perfectly happy with my life as it is. The last thing I want is your intrusion affecting mine, just so you can make money off my back."
"This is not something any of us are interested in pursuing further," Emily stated. "What you presented showed a shocking lack of comprehension of who makes up our family and the kind of people we are. I'm not sure if you even watched the 60 Minutes piece or just saw some well-known individuals you thought you could exploit for profit, but we're not celebrities who thrive on public adoration. We're entertainers, but we're not meant to be in people's homes all the time. I oppose your attempts to make a profit off our lives."
(Source:https://archiveofourown.org/works/30843984)</30843984Exploration_of_the_Courtney_Ghen_Verse__Part_1_The_Excursion__Into_Courtney_Ghens_Comme_Des_Gars_de_Auteurs-)
"This won't happen how you imagine it," Jean clarified. "We're not interfering in your personal lives. We're offering you a chance to tell your own story—your side of the tale, on your own terms."
Andy took a deep breath. "I appreciate your intentions, but fear that they might not align with reality."
"Then I'm afraid I can't agree," Sarah said. "I live in privacy for a specific purpose: I'm not keen on inviting outsiders to enter my life."
"We'll pass," Emily said. "You don't seem to understand who we are as individuals. You can't exploit our experiences."
"And that's fine by me," Andy concluded. "I don't feel the need to explain myself any further."
Piper chipped in as well. "I think we've pretty much covered everything. The rest of what I wanted to say has already been said by these three folks. Still, I'm curious - what prompted you to believe we'd welcome cameras into our lives 24/7, or that we'd be this group of misfits eager to fling insults at each other the moment the cameras started rolling, like we thought it'd make us more famous than we already are. I mean, Fi? Ash? Mo? Neeks? Got any thoughts on that?"
"Fuck that," Aisling replied.
"Feel free to leave then," Jean said, turning off the projector. "We just wanted to present you with an opportunity, but we'll just find another family to turn into billionaires."
The three of them left, and despite the fact that no one laughed out loud until they were out of earshot, all of them burst into fits of giggles and snickers the moment the elevator started going down. "Who the hell even scheduled this meeting?" Fiona asked the others.
"Guess that'd be my agents," Sarah sighed. "I had them reach out to Whitney and set it up. They were trying to find some projects that Emily and I could work on together. Since I said 'No idea is a bad idea,' and..." She gestured toward the elevator, and the group erupted in laughter again. "Oh man, I'm really off the mark sometimes."
No one was furious; they just felt slightly taken aback by how misinformed some Hollywood folks were about who these individuals were and what they were like. The next meeting was much more positive, but a couple of times, Emily had to intervene during the conversation to point out that the script was a bit dehumanizing to the male characters, treating them as little more than eye candy and props rather than real characters with emotions and depth. This amused Andy, considering his lack of attention to the meeting's discussion.
Sarah had also talked to him earlier about how the industry seemed to have flipped overnight. When it had been harder for women to find roles and when those were available, they were often underdeveloped. Now that women held most of the power positions, they were pushing for more stories about women. This made sense, but the speed at which it happened was astonishing. Now, roles for men were more scarce, and this was mostly due to a suggestion by the White House, hoping to normalize the gender imbalance they were seeing in media. Andy understood this logic, but he questioned if people would ever tackle the collective tragedy and trauma head-on, especially given news from New Zealand. Perhaps in a few years, when emotions had settled, humanity would be ready for such stories.
In the meantime, Andy considered whether he'd have to start writing stories about a world post-disaster or whether he could keep pretending that nothing had changed. He deleted the current version of the next Druid Gunslinger book and began rewriting it to reflect the reality he saw today, not the world he'd left behind.
Andy eventually paid attention to more meetings, but they were mostly for Emily or Sarah, except for one about endorsement deals for Piper. After that, he closed his laptop. Maya, his partner, arrived with a few studio executives in tow. "Couldn't this have waited until I got home?" he asked with a lighthearted laugh, closing the file and putting away his laptop. "Why do I need to be here for this?"
"Because we need your approval on some casting decisions, Andy," she said with a grin.
Everyone burst into laughter because they knew Andy was just joking around. When he finally reentered the current century, he'd made a point to always approach life with a mix of curiosity, happiness, and a little sarcasm.
"Possibly, but I had to make my way down to meet with the team from Legendary Entertainment to discuss the details, finalize the budget, and set the shooting timeline. We'll be shooting about 90% of it at StageOne Creative Space in San Jose starting in June, which means I'll have some short commutes here and there, but I'll still be local for the majority of the shoot." A lady with green hair shared this info with him.
Maya, the first person Emily recommended to Andy, had recently asked his approval to adapt "Fatal Alliances," a project of his that didn't sell in huge numbers yet had a loyal fan base. He happily agreed, wanting to help her make her directorial debut since she'd been an assistant director or fight coordinator on various movies.
"We'll need to make a trip to Berlin to capture a few external shots, but that would only take about a week at most. We also wanted to introduce the actors we wanted for the lead roles to you, to get your approval," she added. The elevator signaled its presence in the distance.
Andy responded, "I'm sure they'll be great, Maya. You know, we'd been considering it for a while, but it's still incredible to have Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead star in your movie based on my book!" He couldn't help but look a little stunned as the two movie stars started laughing at his reaction.
"Hello there!" Ewan exclaimed, using his best "Obi-Wan Kenobi" voice while extending his hand for Andy to shake. "I'm a huge fan of your work. It's a shame I wasn't considered for the role of Dale Sexton, honestly."
Andy improvised, "We couldn't afford you, buddy! And did you happen to arrive with your significant other?"
Mary nodded. "He asked who he could pair up with, and I was the only person he suggested. I had to convince him to bring on more people to join us," she added with a smug grin.
"Know any famous faces?" Andy couldn't help but inquire.
Ewan brushed his hand aside slightly. "A gentlemen shouldn't spill the tea, but the world will eventually find out. Moving on, what do you think about us taking on the lead roles in your film, Andy?"
"Wow! So lucky!" Andy responded. "I'm pretty certain you'll start asking me to change the ending though." Ewan and Mary shared a laugh at that.
"Hell no!" Mary objected. "That perfect tragic ending where they die in each other's arms after taking down their bosses, doing the right thing for the wrong reasons but unable to clean up their own messes – that's what won me over. And I told Andy if he wasn't going to change the ending, I'd only be willing to do it. I'm Summer Steele by the way, so it was hard to keep this a secret."
"Yes, Maya?" Andy queried, noticing that Maya had reverted to her old name.
"Can we please gather the paperwork so we can sign it and finalize everything?"
"You've seen us in 'Fargo'?" Ewan asked him.
"I've been a fan of yours since 'Trainspotting', and yours since 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World', so I'm not new to your work," Andy acknowledged.
"Hope you'll come visit us on the set if we need to make any line changes," Mary suggested.
"Absolutely!" Andy affirmed. Eventually, Ewan and Mary left along with the executives, leaving just Maya and her family behind.
"Just to warn you," Maya said, "if Ewan had asked me to join them before you did, I'd have gladly taken them both down."
"Who could blame you?" Ash echoed with a giggle.
Maya tapped Anders on the shoulder, a gesture he found strange since she was standing so close to him already, but she wore a devious grin.
"Y'know what, Andy?" she questioned. Andy Social Network | Geek Together
Playfully, she said, "Those shoes look nice; want to have some fun?"
They did look nice.
They did have fun. [^report:1:1]
Read also:
- A person named Angelica is the subject of the text.
- Historic First Threesome Experience
- Celebrating a Birthday with a Pool Party in Chapter 43
- Is a Third Necessary?
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